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Inspired by Elote/Esquites. It’s smoky from the pan fry of the corn, but creamy from the mayo sour cream mix, a bit of salt from the well salt and cheese, and has a brightness from the lime juice and maybe a bit of spice depending on the amount of chili. For my version I upgraded the call for chili powder or cayenne pepper with ground chipotle chili for more spice and smoke in the flavor profile.

Details

Yield
1

Servings
2

Portion
1

Ingredients

8 oz
Pasta

1/3 cup
Mayonnaise

1/3 cup
Sour Cream

1 tbs
Chili Powder

2 tbs
Lime Juice

1
Lime Zest

1 tbs
Olive Oil

3 cup
Corn Kernals

1
Avocado

1 cup
Cotija Cheese

Procedure

First, the pasta. Cook it the normal way in your favorite pot with boiling salted water.You can use any type of pasta you would like, but get one that has a lot of ridges that can hold the dressing- rotini, radiatore, fusilli, and I like little scoopy conchiglie shells or ditalini small tube too

While the water is boiling/pasta cooking, create the elote dressing. Mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, chili, lime until smooth. Once the pasta is al dente and rained, put one tablespoon of this dressing into the pasta and stir so all the pasta is coated and won’t stick to each other. Then I put the pasta, as well as the rest of the dressing, into the refrigerator to chill.

Now, the corn. Heat the olive oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the corn. Cook 5 to 6 minutes without moving or until corn starts to char. Then toss corn, stir, and repeat to let the corn brown on both sides.

The easy part is now just bringing all these together. Add the pasta and corn together. Add the dressing a little at a time, mixing gently to coat as you go, until you achieve your desired flavor mix. Gently toss in the avocado and cheese. If you’d like, top with a dusting of the chili powder and bit more of the crumbled Cotija cheese, and garnish upon serving with a lime wedge.

Notes

You can use 1 tablespoon chile powder or cayenne pepper, or 2 teaspoons of ground chipotle chili

Instead of cotija cheese, you can also use Parmesan, Asiago, or Feta but may want to reduce the amount since the cheese flavor is more intense